


The walls of the aquarium

by Ally_D



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternative Univrse, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:40:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26706130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ally_D/pseuds/Ally_D
Summary: I wanted to write a different VegeBul fanfiction, in an alternative universe, of course. I didn't want to change the couple's personality, but rather the circumstances of their lives. And if Bulma wasn't so rich, would she be so confident, or would she be an insecure woman?And if Vegeta had an irreparable tragedy in his life, what would he be like? And if he felt punished for a sin he never committed, would it be so stubborn and proud? What if he couldn't walk? I've always seen a trace of melancholy in the prince of Saiyans, so I decided to load these paints and add some drama. The "aquarium," as you will see in history, is where this immense wounded shark swims.This is the story of two people who meet and need to help each other because nobody is anyone's salvation.
Relationships: Bulma Briefs/Vegeta, Chi-Chi/Son Goku (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	1. The Headhunter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jazzydazzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzydazzy/gifts).
  * A translation of [As Paredes do aquário](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/692902) by Ally_D. 



Bulma finally sat down and looked at the time. It was the end of her exhaustive 12-hour shift at the West City University Hospital, and she sighed with exhaustion. The routine as a first-aid nurse was not like that of a clinical nurse; she knew it more than anyone. She spent the entire day on duty running, taking calls from doctors, and preparing prescriptions with full attention.

It was not like attending to a routine of hospitalized patients: they were doctors shouting and being rude, suspicious and irritated patients, and in the summer, it was much worse: so many people on vacation and wanting to live outdoors always generated accidents with a considerable amount of complicated cases, from children falling in parks to victims of crashes with various traumas, from drowning cases to idiotic girls who got seriously burned while sunbathing in the backyard trying to accelerate the tanning with some stupid homemade formula.

Then, at seven o'clock at the evening, with the sun still shining outside, she was ready to take a sip of coffee or water, take a shower, change clothes and find her boyfriend to go out when the other nurse of the shift, a pretty blonde named Launch, called her saying:

“We need you here." Said Launch, running into the nurse's room.

"But, my shift is over now!" She moaned, "it is not possible that..."

"Mine's over too, come on, come fast. It will not be too bad…"

Launch pulled her down the hallway leading to the vast emergency room gallery, a place full of stalls where there were waiting for beds for those going to be examined or pre-hospital. Each bed was surrounded by a curtain, and she saw a gathering of women, doctors, nurses, and auxiliaries, near the last stall. Luckily, the emergency room was not so full, she thought.

They came before the bay, and Launch paved the way, saying:

"Girls, I brought Bulma to see if she can make it."

That was not a bedside stall, but there was a medical chair, where patients with less gravity and small cuts in the upper parts of the body received sutures or injections. Sitting in the chair was a handsome, tall, muscular boy who had spiked hair. Without the slightest need, she noticed he was shirtless and talked to two or three of the girls around him.

“But I'm afraid!” he said, and his face acquired a childish expression which contrasted totally with his defined muscular chest. He had one of his hands bandaged and held it next to his body in a defensive posture.

"Sweety, it's protocol..." said Suno, a beautiful redhead nurse, who had a syringe prepared in her hand and incessantly rubbed his right arm with cotton, while the guy seemed about to get up and run away.

“Sweety?" Bulma thought, looking at the girl, who seemed hypnotized by the boy's pretty face, that made her imagine he was taking advantage of the situation. She thought that was not possible: a big man afraid to had a ridiculous injection.

“May I ask what's going on here?” she asked, looking at the other assistants, who looked away. Bulma was known for her professionalism and seriousness, although she was a cheerful and playful girl outside the hospital.

“He is afraid of injections.” clarified Vikal, the other auxiliary who surrounded the boy. Launch, behind Bulma, giggled. Bulma faced the boy, who was looking at her, mute.

“You're not ashamed, are you? A man this big pretending to be afraid of injection to receive girls' attention?”

“What? Asked the guy, "Oh! Your hair is blue!” he completed, in a totally unexpected way. Bulma rolled her eyes. 

“I know this sort of guy," she said, taking the syringe out of Suno's hands and speaking rashly, “Go back to work all of you, for God's sake.”

All grumpy faced the girls left, and Bulma was about Bulmao apply the injection when the boy jumped up and hid behind the chair, screaming:

“OH, MAMA, NO!”

Bulma stopped, and for the first time, took the boy's fear seriously. She could recognize a phobia when she saw one. Immediately, she changed her attitude, and her voice softened:

“Hey, don't worry, I won't hurt you. “Bulma held the syringe out of his sight and continued, “how long have you had this fear?”

“Well," he said, without abandoning the defensive posture, “I don't know, I think I always had.

“You can sit in the chair, I won't give you the injection right now.” She said, “Launch, can you tell me what has already been done and why he needs the injection?”

“It's an antitetanic. Goku said that got hurt training... what sport did you say you practice?”

 _“Parkour_ ," he said, "I went to jump a wall and cut my hand in a broken bottle unintentionally," he clarified.

“Sutured? “she asked.

“No.," said Launch. “We did not. We used fake stitch patches and bandaged it.”

“And why is he shirtless? Does he have any trauma or bruise, Goku?”

“They said I'd better take it off," said the boy, pointing to Launch. Bulma looked at her frowning, and she gave a dull smile.

“Why don't you sit down?” asked Bulma, gently, “I won't give you the injection. “She thought, indeed: "not yet, but he needs it.”

He sat down with a suspicious look and still looked unsure that he believed the conversation. Bulma treated him like he was a child, asking:

“So, what's your name?”

“Goku.” he said “Son Goku.”

“Are you a professional athlete, Goku?”

“No, no, “he laughed. “I just practice _parkour_ and fight in a dojo for fun. I know a guy who works here, my fight buddy, Tienshinhan... I think he's a physiotherapist.”

Launch suddenly lost her face’s color. Tienshinhan was her boyfriend. She didn't want him to know that she had been playing the spook over Goku and said:

“Do you know my Tien?”

He looked at her, with his big black eyes and said:

“Oh, you're Launch? He was talking about you another day!”

“Oh, he was?” she got excited because her boyfriend was usually very closed. “What did he say?”

“Oh, normal, he says you're nice, but a little angry sometimes. Blown up, that's what he said. Are you?”

“I am," she said, dryly, as she expected something more complimentary.

“And he also says that he had never dated such a beautiful girl.” Goku completed, and Launch smiled wide. Bulma observed the conversation and said:

“Launch, why don't you tell him that story about you and Tien at the waterfall?

Launch got excited and started telling an episode where she and Tien were in a waterfall, and a storm broke, and the guy saved her from death, very early in their dating. So, Bulma, on the pretext of emphasizing something, held Goku's arm and said:

“Her boyfriend's pretty muscular and tall, I think it's even more than you.”

“Yes, yes, he is taller than me; I know him," he said, then asking Launch to proceed with the story. Bulma didn't let go of his arm. Taking advantage of his distraction, she held on by slightly tightening his arm, injecting the intramuscular needle strictly at the climax of Launch's story.

“Ouch," he said, half terrified when he noticed the sting, just to see that she was just inoculating the liquid in him.

Goku was utterly unresponsive while Bulma took the needle out of his arm, smiling and saying:

“You see, Goku, it was quick, and it hardly even hurt!”

He stared at her, amazed, and said:

“You gave me the injection! You did it! Nobody ever gave me an injection!”

Bulma laughed and said:

“I'm sorry I tricked you, but it's a considerable risk if you cut yourself this way and not take the antitetanic.”

“No, no, don't worry!” he said. “What did you say your name is?”

“Bulma.”

“Bulma.” he repeated, adding, as if to himself, “I won't forget, Bulma!”

“Okay, “she said and prepared to leave, while Launch called a doctor to release Goku.

Already in the locker room, after a shower, Bulma met with Launch and complained:

“The handsome boy of yours made me lose almost half an hour. Poor Yamcha must be waiting for me.”

“Oh, but he was pretty hot...”

“Who pulled that low blow from getting the poor guy to take his shirt off?”

“It was Vikal.” Launch laughed, “but who would have thought he would make me win the day?”

“You mean, saying you're the most beautiful girlfriend Tien ever had? By the way, where is Tien? Didn’t see him here today.”

“Today is his day to do a private session for a rich guy there, the guy does not admit even 5 minutes of delay, requires his work three times a week at the time he schedules, and Tien has to deal to fulfill it...”

“Oh, that sucks. And Tien goes? How does he do when it's hospital day?”

“When the guy started, he asked for Tien's scale at the hospital to determine when he'd be compromised. But there are days when he asks him to go at night, or very early in the morning... annoying. I've seen Tien leave at dawn like a crazy man to keep his schedule.”

“Wow, why does he submit to that?”

“Because the guy pays for an hour more than the hospital pays for a day, the man is not a bad person and doesn't mistreat Tien, he's just picky. It must be bad being rich and being stuck in a wheelchair.”

“Well, there it is, but it must be much worse being poor in a wheelchair.”

“Being poor is always bad, anyway! But today... Today my Tien will win something special because he said I am the most beautiful girl he has ever dated!” she winked and showed the black bra under her blouse.

They both laughed and finished their dressing up. Bulma came down and found her boyfriend standing impatiently in front of his beautiful yellow sports car. Yamcha was a doctor at another West City hospital, and usually, they met when they were both off duty together and weren't absurdly tired, which was rare, but that day they had a party to go; it was her mother's birthday.

“Did you buy her gift?” She asked. Since that day, Yamcha had spent time in the clinic and not at the hospital routine. He had more free time than her for shopping.

“Yes, your mother will love it. I bought that imported perfume she loves.”

“Oh, you saved my life, Yanny," she said, sinking into the car seat. They fired in the direction of her parents' house, and she breathed a weary sigh. If she could, she’d lie down at that moment and sleep until the next day.

* * *

Bulma was a dedicated nurse, but she could have been a doctor if she wanted to. Her grades were good enough for that, but, in fact, she really liked being able to provide care to patients. That's why she chose nursing over medicine because she felt that was her vocation.

Still, at West City General College, she had met Yamcha. He was a boy from another city, Satan City, and the two met when she was an intern, and he was a resident in the same university hospital where she still worked. When he finished her residency, Yamcha soon got a placement in a private hospital and opened a practice of his specialty, otorhinolaryngology. He was ascending rapidly and earning a lot of money while Bulma was still at the university hospital.

He pressed her, saying that her career was stagnant because as soon as she had finished college, she applied to be a nurse in the same hospital where she had interned. Still, the truth was that Bulma always had resistance to change, especially sudden changes. It was something she tried to work on herself, but she always ended looking for a comfort zone where things seemed safer and in their proper place.

It was like this with the hospital. Little by little, Bulma realized that it was like this with their relationship. Yamcha was handsome, charming, had a good conversation, but Bulma could no longer remember why they had started to date after seven years together. It had never been a great passion, a great attraction. It had just happened, and as it seemed stupid to break up with him, she kept going. 

A few weeks had passed after the young _parkour_ practitioner's episode, and Bulma was leaving the hospital, sleepy, from her weekly night duty, walking home, which was very close to the hospital.

She had passed the hospital cafeteria and had a simple breakfast, and all she wanted to do was sleep until at least two o'clock in the afternoon. It was Friday morning, and she would have the whole weekend off because of the night shift. She was thinking about what she would do with her free time when a large, luxurious and dark car paired with her, strolling, right after entering a secondary street and not very busy, already close to the set where she lived. She noticed the car and started walking faster, afraid of being stalked by some freak or kidnapper.

The car's glass slowly came down, and she, looking discreetly, saw that there was a man in a suit and sunglasses inside the car, and she really felt threatened, speeding up the step until he said:

“Hey, Bulma, don't run so fast!”

She thought she knew the voice, and he repeated:

“You can stop, Bulma. It's me, Goku.”

She knew that name... who was it really?

“I need to talk to you!”

She turned around, holding a lipstick inside her purse to make a fair bluff:

“If this is some kind of harassment, I've got pepper spray here.”

The boy in the car laughed and took off his sunglasses, saying:

“It's me, Bulma, Goku! You gave me an injection, remember?”

She stopped and realized she was shaking.

“You scared me!”

He smiled at her from inside the car and said:

“I am sorry! But I have a job offer for you.”

“A job? For me?”

“Yes, of course, it is for you.”

“But I already have a job, Goku, you know I work at the hospital.”

What if I tell you that I'm a headhunter and I told my boss about you and he has a better offer for you than working at the hospital and indeed a lot less tiring, do you at least listen?

Bulma stopped. She was exhausted. Suddenly she realized something:

“How did you know my time out of shift?”

“I asked Tienshinhan where I could find you, and he asked his girlfriend.”

“But why me?”

“Because you managed to give me an injection, “he laughed, "which impressed my boss.

“Who's your boss?”

“His name is Vegeta Prince. And he needs special care. His current nurse is retiring, and he was looking forward to another one. I told him about you.”

“You recommended me to him?”

“Yes, sure, I did. You're up for the interview? The salary will be excellent.”

‘One hour with him pays more than one day of the hospital,' she remembered. Of course, he was the rich man for whom Tien worked. She had time at that moment, although she was sleepy. She made an impulsive decision, which was not her style, and said:

“Can you take me there now?”

“Right now?” Goku scratched his head. “I need to call Vegeta to find out.”

He took his cell phone and called someone quickly, explaining the situation, while Bulma was waiting outside, cursing the sun that was already getting strong. He listened for an instant and then said to her, as soon as he hung up:

“He said it was great! Get in there.” He unlocked the door of the car, and she entered. The vehicle, besides luxurious, was brand new. She said, to bring it up. 

“Nice car.”

“It's not mine, it belongs to the company's," he laughed. “I would never have such an expensive car. I like things more... different things.”

“That's good. What's your car?”

“A 1963 Beetle.”

“A Beetle?”

“It's not just any VW Beetle," Goku laughed “it's a period VW Beetle, all original, of a classic model with a 1600 horsepower engine, a collector's dream. Twilight yellow, classic Volkswagen color. Fixed, repaired, and restored by me!”

“You must look huge, sat in it! “she laughed.

“Hey!” he defended “did you know that Ferdinand Porsche said that the Beetle was the best design in his life? I never felt tight on Nimbus.”

“Nimbus?”

“That's what I call my beloved bug.”

“Okay...”

“Do you always do that?” 

“Do what?”

“You doubt it by saying, ‘Okay,' don't you?"

“I don't know. Maybe. How far away is it?”

“We’re near now.”

“Goku... do you think your boss will... I don't know, like me, approve my way?”

“You? Of course, he will. And you have something essential to deal with him.”

“What?”

“Courage. Vegeta can be very intimidating.”

They arrived at a residential building, a luxury tower in one of the best neighborhoods in West City. At first, Bulma thought this guy should have money, but not be the rich millionaire that Launch said. After all, rich people lived in mansions, and there it was just a luxury loft. But Goku cleared things up for her, without her asking, as they left the car in the underground garage and walked to an elevator door where there was a biometric digital reading scanner, where Goku put his hand for recognition, saying, as they waited for the elevator:

“This entire building belongs to Vegeta’s company. It was ready nine years ago, and Vegeta moved into the penthouse, which is roughly equivalent to eight of the apartments in the building. It is a duplex penthouse with a heated swimming pool, gourmet kitchen, 8 bedrooms, and a private entrance. Vegeta supervised the project personally. Five years ago, the apartment was renovated to fit his special conditions” he opened the elevator door and gave passage to her, who asked:

“Is he an engineer?”

“Yes, he is. But currently, he is the CEO of the business group he inherited. And he works home office based, that's why the apartment is so comfortable.”

“Goku... I need to know why he needs my services.”

Goku stared at her, thoughtfully, and said:

“Please do not touch this subject with him. If you get hired, I'll take you to talk to Dr. Kamisama, the neurologist who assists Vegeta, and he'll give you all the details you need; the current nurse can go through all the procedures. Never touch that subject and treat him as if he was not in a wheelchair. Above all, never seem to feel sorry for him.” 

“Why is that?”

Goku sighed.

“He does not accept his condition well. He never accepted, in fact. And he has been like this for five years. I met him before that, and I can tell you that he is the proudest guy that exists.” Goku opened the door of the apartment, and the wealth of the environment hit Bulma immediately.

It was a loft with high ceilings in the large entrance hall, with access to the second floor through a mezzanine. Instead of a staircase, a ramp was very well integrated into the environment, which signaled that Vegeta should like to circulate around the apartment. The decoration was in good taste, but very impersonal, without photos, with flowers placed in very discreet jars on one or the other table. Everything was so clean and sterile that it seemed that nobody lived there. 

The kitchen door was open, and Bulma saw a girl with black hair stuck and 1air cooking. She wore a chef's dolman and a Chinese bandana tied to her head. Goku looked at her and said, politely:

“Good morning, Chichi. This is Bulma.”

The girl looked at Bulma and smiled briefly, saying:

“Nice to meet you. Again to become severe, “Goku, the imported vanilla beans that I ordered, did not arrive.”

“No? I'll call the delicatessen, rest assured. They’ll deliver it later today.”

“Okay, she said, and went back to work.”

Goku led Bulma down the ramp to the mezzanine, and then into a side corridor with several doors. He opened the last one, and Bulma took a slight shock because it was huge, but it was not a room, but a workstation.

There were monitors by the walls, and it seemed that they were all flashing at the same time, showing stock market quotations, currencies, projections of future markets. The room had a giant panoramic window, in front of which a man, sitting in a wheelchair with his back to whom he was entering, was vociferous to his cell phone in a foreign language.

He must not have been a very tall man before the accident or whatever had confined him to that chair, but his trunk and arms were pretty muscular. Bulma could notice that he used a manual chair, probably to keep himself healthy. Although he was visibly working, he wore a white knitted T-shirt, gray sweatpants, and was barefoot. Suddenly, he closed the connection with a rude comment and Goku said:

“Working on Saturday, Vegeta? Who were you speaking? The guys from Govinda?”

“Yes, idiots. Do you have a pen? Mine is gone, as usual," Goku took a pen out of his pocket and passed to him, who suddenly turned and looked at Bulma, with a neutral expression, holding the pen. Then he asked as if she couldn't hear, to Goku: “is she the miracle worker who gave you the injection?

“Yes, “Goku laughed. "It is her."

“Kakarotto said that you applied an injection on him. How did you get it?”

“Who is Kakarotto?”

He looked impatient to Goku by the way he didn't like to explain things.”

“Look, Vegeta and I have known each other since we were kids, and he calls me by the nickname I had when I was ten years old," said Goku, blushing.

“Ah, I understood... Well, I realized that he had a phobia, but he needed to take the injection anyway. So I dealt with the phobia in the best way and applied the injection to him.” she said, objectively.

Vegeta stared at her for an instant and then said, while she scribbled some notes on a notepad:

“My nurse, Mrs. Uranai, retires at the end of the month. She can train you for as long as it takes. I'll give you a few days to resign from your job at the hospital. I researched the salary there. It's not the most attractive. Why are you in a job below your ability?”

She felt pressured, but she didn't let herself be intimidated and said:

“I have good personal relationships there, and it's a good place to learn at the beginning of your career.”

He dropped the notepad and the pen and evaluated her for a moment. His black eyes went through Bulma's face an instant before he said:

“You are hired. See the details with Kakaroto and talk to Doctor Kamisama. He'll explain everything you need to work with me. When will you be able to start?”

“Can it be in a week?” She asked.

“Five days. If you're smart, as soon as you get rid of it, come. I will pay you the triple if you get there and overtime when it is needed. Kakarotto, can I keep the pen?”

“Sure... I always have one in my pocket because of you anyway...”

Vegeta looked at Bulma and said:

“If you really come to work for me, always have a pen in your pocket. For some reason, Mine is disappearing all time.”

She said nothing. Vegeta took one last look in her direction and then said, dry:

“You both go out. I have to work.”

Goku called Bulma discreetly, and they left the enclosure. Vegeta turned his chair until in front of the window from where we could see the whole city. Before Goku closed the door, Bulma thought that the man looking through the window seemed utterly melancholy in his wheelchair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. this is the beginning of our history. In the next chapter, we will know how Vegeta ended up in a wheelchair and learn more about Bulma's life.  
> 2\. Goku and Chichi are in the story too, but they are not the main couple. In fact, at first, they are not even a couple when the story begins.


	2. A desert between walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bulma knows more about Vegeta before accept to work as his nurse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The medical case described without many technicalities was the same one that led a friend of mine to paraplegia at age 19.

Bulma returned home, feeling mentally exhausted. Goku had taken her to talk with Kamisama MD, an elderly doctor, whom she knew to be a reference in the field of clinical and surgical neurology. The man was in his office exceptionally that Saturday morning just to explain to her what had caused Vegeta’s paraplegia and what care he needed.

“Vegeta was 25 years old when he entered the central hospital with an acute lumbar pain and paraplegia characteristic of severe spinal injury, without being able to move the legs, but apparently with the sensitivity of the hip preserved. After many exams, a hematoma was discovered due to an aortic artery aneurysm that had severed the spinal cord partially in the T-12 vertebra, causing a partial but irreversible injury, which led him to his current condition.”

“So, it was not an accident or an infection or an autoimmune disease? Sectional aneurysms are rare...”

“Yes, a tremendous bad luck, and they are not usually diagnosed in young people, nor do they have this kind of evolution so quickly.” The doctor grieved, “He arrived here already with the aneurysm sectioned. We managed to preserve a part of the motor function because the marrow's compression was not total. Still, the most we could do was treat the pain resulting from the acute condition and prepare him to conform to the lesion's irreversible state. But, incredible as it may seem, he was lucky: the partial section of the medulla allowed him to preserve part of his motor functions and the totality of the physiological ones, but unfortunately, from the hip down, he lost his sensitivity.

“And how did he react? “ Asked Bulma, who was always interested in patients as people. She imagined the young millionaire with the world at his feet, discovering that he would be tied to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

“At first, like many patients, he didn't believe it was irreversible. You see, he was in the locker room of a club when came the acute pain after a squash match. He arrived at the hospital walking, but, suddenly, he felt his legs weakening and couldn't stand on them anymore. He thought it was something temporary, an infection, perhaps.”

“And then?”

“Well... he stayed for a while, and everything seemed fine, but when he needed to go home, he isolated himself, and if it wasn't for that young man who brought you here...”

“Goku?”

“Yes, Goku. He helped Vegeta to overcome. They had known each other since childhood. Goku was with him when everything happened.”

“I understand, now..., but why does he need me, then? He seems adapted, does physiotherapy, to keep well, has no respiratory sequels...”

The doctor looked at her. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes as if he needed to explain something very complicated.

“Well... you visit him in his loft, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You know it was built exactly over where there was his family mansion?”

“No...”

“Paralysis isn't the first tragedy in his life. When he was just over 17 years old, his parents suffered an accident in a plane that took Vegeta, his father, and his main executives and wives to a resort in the mountains. Then it was known that it was not an accident.”

“How so?”

“One of the company executives was arrested. He was accused of sabotaging the plane so that a millionaire embezzler of him would not be discovered. The company got into difficulties, and the young man was pressured to sell his part in the stocks. They told him that this way, he could maintain his life under control and finish engineering college. But he didn't accept.”

“He didn't? What did he do?”

“A brilliant maneuver, which later made him known as the phenomenon of business and a "corporate shark." The litigation between him and the creditors lasted long enough to finish college and execute his daring plan, keeping his assets... Delaying his debts for the right time, he had the mansion where they lived demolished in the city's noblest neighborhood and took advantage of the demand for upper-middle-class housing to build that high-end building. He managed to save the company, although there were some disputes that he still deals with today because of that time.”

“He built for himself a splendid penthouse and became a famous playboy, dated beautiful women, attended high society... But when he developed paraplegia, everything changed. He only had one friend left, Goku, who saved him from suicide.”

Bulma took both hands to his mouth, shocked. The doctor went on:

“Young Goku had an intuition, an instinct, whatever you want to call it, and broke into the apartment on the day Vegeta came back from the hospital after he had dismissed all his personal employees. Goku found him on one of the balconies, about to throw himself into the void. He had strong arms. He could lift himself with them and simply let go from above. But Goku didn't allow it, and took him to his house.”

“My God...”

“He had developed depression and panic syndrome as a consequence of the trauma..., but in the hospital, nobody had noticed. Apparently, as soon as he found himself alone, he started to despair about his condition, to the point that he no longer wanted to live. “

“And Goku saved him...”

“Yes. With Goku's help, Vegeta treated himself to depression and panic. Still, he needs supervision to take his medication, and he needs regular massages on his legs and feet to avoid bedsores and other prolonged wheelchair use consequences. Above all, Vegeta needs constant attention because he may succumb to depression at any moment. That's why, young lady, you are being hired. There is a staff of 4 nurses who attend him. One for the day, one for the night, and two on duty at the weekend. Your role is to give him the right medicine, at the right time, and to observe him, for his own good.”

“And what do I do if I notice any change, any disturbance?”

“You immediately give a message to Doctor Whis, his therapist. He will know what to do.”

Bulma received some more orientation and thanked the doctor, so she found Goku, who was waiting for her in the hall and said:

“You didn't have to wait for me, Goku! I could take a cab to go home.”

“I know, but I wanted to talk to you first," he said thoughtfully. “It's almost lunchtime, and I know a place near here that has a great pasta salad. Let’s take lunch together.”

Bulma hesitated a moment, while Goku said, clearly:

“Hey, it's not a date, before you think so! There are things you need to know about Vegeta before you start working with him. And the best way to talk about it is outside the work environment.

“Okay," she said, still hesitating, “but I've never seen a noodle salad be the attraction of a restaurant...

They both went down, and to Bulma's amazement, Goku took her to a yellow Volkswagen beetle. They had arrived there in the luxury black car.

“Where did it come from? “she asked, astonished, and Goku laughed.

“I told you my car was a relict. Let me introduce you two: This is Nimbus, Bulma. Nimbus, this is Bulma. I called the company driver and asked him to bring it to me and take that dull thing back. "

“You're crazy. Talking to a car as if it is a person.”

“Don't talk about her like that. It will hurt her feelings.”

"Of course! Nimbus is a girl."

"Her?"

Goku got into the car, and Bulma was surprised how the Beetle looked brand new, despite being an old model. Goku explained:

“After I leave you at home, I didn't have to go back there in the granite tower. Vegeta did everything for me to live there, but I don't like that building... by the way, I don't like Vegeta's apartment either, but... whatever, it is him living there, not me.”

“Why don't you enjoy it? Don't you like big, modern spaces?”

He laughed. Then he said:

“You haven't noticed because you've only been there once. But that place is a desert between 4 walls. Nothing there is alive except Vegeta and, of course, his personal staff. But I am not sure, maybe Vegeta would prefer to have androids like a staff."

“There are plants, “she said, remembering the flowers in the pots.

“There are flowers," he corrected, "plucked to die. No wonder they call Vegeta ‘The Shark trapped in an aquarium,' he never leaves that place. You must know it before work for him: he has agoraphobia. It is the fear of being outside."

"Why?"

"Well... It is a question I never got the answer to. Since I took him back there for the second time after he got therapy, I tried to take him out but got only more violent responses, so I gave this case rest. I hope someday he gets out. Doctor Whis said he has to make it in his own time."

They both stopped in front of a small, modest restaurant. There was a sign saying, "TRY OUT OUR PASTA SALAD!"

“See? “he said, showing the sign. “I said it's delicious.

The two sat down, and Goku ordered a soda and asked what she wanted to drink. She called lemonade, and he asked what she wanted for the meal. She looked at the menu and ordered the pasta salad with chicken, while Goku asked for a double pasta salad and a steak. They started to talk, and Goku said:

“I don't want you to get the wrong impression of Vegeta or me. That guy is my best friend, and that will never change."

“I know he owes his life to you," she said “Dr. Kamisama told it to me.”

“Actually," he said, and his face got an almost dark tone, “I just returned a favor.”

She kept waiting for him to start talking, and he said, after taking a sip of his soda apparently to acquire courage:

“Vegeta and I have known each other since we were children. His father's company, Sayajin enterprises, was my father's job. My father was not an executive, but his father's private security. They called him 'number one.' His name was Bardock.”

“We grew up together, and although I didn't have much money, I went to the same schools as him, his father liked me, paid for the studies for my older brother and me. It was funny because Vegeta was the guy who did everything absolutely right, always criticizing the way I studied, that is, the fact that I didn't study much, and we both had similar results. He by the capacity of effort, I by the improvisation.”

“He liked to stay at my house, which was much smaller than his. We played and trained at the fighting dojo of Master Roshi, who had trained my father before. It was a great childhood. He was not raised as a rich man in a dome of ostentatious. When we were about ten years old, he discovered that I was still sleeping with a stuffed rabbit named Kakarotto. And he never called me by my real name again!” Goku laughed, and Bulma smiled.

“Then, when we were 16 years old, both of us already finishing high school, a tragedy happened. My father discovered a threat to Mr. Vegeta's safety and insisted that he didn't travel to the mountains. There was already the suspicion of embezzlement, but it was not known exactly who was to blame. My father was checking with the accounting the connections of an executive named Nappa with the criminal organization known as Cold Empire. But Vegeta Senior didn't take the suspicions too seriously, mainly when my father insisted that skiing in the mountains would be crazy with all this suspicion hovering. My father imagined that someone could kill him there, a sniper, a rent killer, it is easy to disguise and run by the surrounding forest in the mountains."

“King Vegeta was not a bad guy. But he was stubborn, and if he wanted to take his wife to climb the mountains, he would. Vegeta and his brother.”

“He has a brother?”

“Yes, he does. He lives abroad today, at the time he was in boarding school. As I said, Vegeta and the brother wouldn't go, but two more company executives went with the wives. And King, as a precaution, told my father that he should go too. And he could take my mother.”

Bulma took both hands to his mouth in amazement.

“Yes. My parents died in the same 'accident' as his. And everything changed. I walked away from him in anger, no matter how much my brother said that Vegeta was not to blame for anything. To me, it was King's fault, and Vegeta was King's son. And I went to Paozu, a small town in the mountains, to live with my grandfather, without saying goodbye to my best friend.”

“I spent a year completely lost. I didn't know what I wanted or what I would do. Meanwhile, here in the capital, Vegeta was studying engineering. Raditz also went to college to become a lawyer. I went back to school and finished high school at the age of 18. Miraculously, I got an opportunity to study in another country, a scholarship. Today I think because of everything that happened next, Vegeta had something to do with it, although saying he did nothing, I know him very well: he'll never say he paid my studies.”

“I studied computer science, but in the middle of college, I was already programming apps and games and was discovered by a start-up that hired me. I created a completely unambitious interactive game, and it was very successful, it was called ‘The Dragonballs quest’".

“I remember that game! It was a fever a few years ago!”

“Yeah... I made a lot of money, and I ended up dropping out of college and coming back here because of personal issues. I was 21 years old. I could work for the start-up guys being anywhere in the world. All I had to do was create something, some interesting game that had lots of downloads. And that wasn't hard for me. My second successful game was ‘Martial Arts Tournament’".

“I also remember that game!”

Goku scratched behind his head and said:

“I was a guy with two million in the bank and no fucking head. The start-up guys pushed me to do something I didn't like: put obstacles in the games that would make progress impossible if you didn't buy goodies inside the game to progress. It is a game strategy called 'pay to win.' I knew this was a common practice when making a game, but I didn't like it. I knew that many children played the game, that if they didn't progress they would ask to spend money on their parents' card, even the poor ones... and that's why I became unhappy. I kept creating apps for them. I had satisfying solutions for everything. Except for my life... I was so lost here, but I even finished college by distance learning just to get a diploma, to say I was graduated.”

“My personal life was a total disaster. I had some love moves that I didn't know how to deal with. There was a girl angry with me who couldn't forget. My brother had finished college and went to work in Satan City as a lawyer. He managed to help put in jail everyone involved in our parents' death but now was far away. A young guy, alone and with a lot of money, is always perfect for doing any shit, you know? And I was this guy. I started drinking, messing up with girls, and I guess I didn't get to use illegal drugs just because I thought my brother would kill me if I were caught. I missed him, someone to talk to, someone with his head more in place than me.”

“I think I was so wasted inside that I wanted to destroy myself. I felt at a dead-end, the company pressuring me to make games with more profit, although the ones I made were already profiting a lot, a lot of people interested and empty surrounding me, no real friends... One night I was very drunk. I had a Harley Davidson. I wanted to ride it and go out, like a dumb ass. That was the day Vegeta showed up, out of nowhere, at my house door when I was going out with the bike. And he wouldn't let me go out. I decided to fight with him, and he punched me directly in my face. It was the best thing anyone ever did for me. He really saved me. I am sure I was about to kill myself in an accident."

Bulma stared at him in amazement. The salad had arrived, and Goku gave some erratic bites before saying:

“Vegeta the next day told me that he had bought the start-up. I was all purple, sore, and he had a huge bruise on the side of his face. During the fight, he told me something that I will never forget.”

“What was it?”

“Don’t You think I don't blame myself either?" And then I realized. I was angry with the wrong guy. And I was, in fact, mad at me because of the mess I had gotten my life into. And when Vegeta saw me crying instead of comforting me, he got pissed off and said to me: "Fuck off, Kakarotto. You're the creative, intelligent, intuitive guy. The guy who solved everything when we were kids. Do you realize you're sinking into your own shit?"

“And what did you say?”

“I started to laugh. And then we both were laughing together, finally. And Vegeta said I was working for him now. I went back to creating apps and games, but I also became a "problem solver" for Vegeta, the "creative." The guy who acts by intuition. I had this talent to see what people could do better and helped them. A while later, I needed to solve some issues, and I used a lot of the money I had accumulated, but I don't regret it. I sold my bike. I bought my little Nimbus, and during the weekends, I kept fixing it and thinking.”

“On your personal questions?”

“Yes. this..."

“And then?”

“And then, that happened. Vegeta and I were playing squash. It was something that I hated. I told him it was a snob sport, but he said he needed an agile partner like him, and I ended up playing, even hating it. He was in the shower, and I was already dressing when he screamed in pain. We thought it was a contracture..., but the pain got worse. When we got to the hospital, it was hard for him to get out of the car. And the rest you already know.”

“And how did you know he was going to kill himself?”

“I can’t say how, but suddenly I realized he was about to suicide. He was my best friend, I think I knew more or less how he thought, and I saw that all that talk that everything was fine, that he would do physical therapy and adapt. And he had gone to that apartment... before the adaptation, that place was full of stairs, and I thought: "How can Vegeta go up to his room if it has a ladder and he can't walk?" And I went up there. I had the key to his house since he had hired me, and I really thanked him for it that day. When I reached him, he had his hands on the porch ledge, the rest you already know. "

She was mute in front of the boy. And he was right, now he had another idea about the two friends, and Bulma didn't know whether or not to ask what she had in mind, but she took a chance:

“Did you solve your "personal issues"?”

“No. But I'm trying, I swear. After all, I'm already 30 years old.”

“Vegeta is very hard to deal with?”

“Yes, he is. That's why I chose you," he smiled, “who can apply an injection to me, can deal with him.”

Bulma laughed. And he strongly wished that her new job would work.

* * *

Goku left her home shortly after 2:00 PM, and she slept until the time Yamcha entered her house, coming from his own duty. She had left her letter of resignation to the hospital written and showed him, who faced her intrigued and asked:

“What is happening that I don't know?

“I got another job. I will earn the triple wage I earn at the hospital. Work only from Monday to Friday, in 12-hour shifts." she said, excited.

“And what is this dream job? “he asked, suspicious.

“A millionaire's personal nurse."

Yamcha smiled, but something inside him said things would change too much, and maybe that wouldn't be good for their relationship, but he said nothing.

However, he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I'm not a doctor, and I tried my best not to talk garbage when I described the injury. I hope I succeeded.   
> Translate this chapter was excruciating because I am not used to all these medical terms in English. The following chapters will come out faster, I promise.  
> 2\. I have a friend who had precisely this injury, only in a vertebra above the T-9 and younger at 18 years. And he is 45 today and never walked again.   
> 3\. Something happened to Vegeta between the hospital and the attempt to throw himself off the balcony.   
> 4\. Goku has "personal issues." I think it's easy to guess what it is.   
> 5\. Bulma took a decisive step in her life. Nothing else will be like before.   
> 6\. Next chapter: "A wounded wolf is still able to bite."


	3. A wounded wolf can still bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bulma starts to work at Vegeta's apartment.

With the rush to change jobs, Bulma had the impression that the days flew by. One day she was handing in her letter of resignation. The next, she signed the contract with Saiyajin Enterprises in a building identical to the one Vegeta lived in. The difference was that it was, unlike the other, completely white, with mirrored glass in a silver-tone, as opposed to the graphite tone of the other building.

Bulma commented this with Goku, who said:

"We called this building 'ivory tower' when Vegeta designed it, although it is covered in marble. On the outside, they look the same, but this is a 100% commercial building. The company is all here, with 5 or 6 other high profile firms," he completed. "Vegeta was inspired by the legend that Shah Jahan designed the Taj Mahal and a black twin palace that he never managed to build."

"Well, by the way, Vegeta managed to build them both," she bantered, "although he started with the black."

"Yes," Goku sighed while checking Bulma's contract papers, "the only two buildings he designed in life."

"What do you mean? Isn't he an engineer?"

"Yes, by instruction. But a corporate shark, as everybody calls, for inclination. And Vegeta only stepped in this building here three times after the conclusion, can you believe it?" 

"Three times?"

"Yes. This building was finished a few weeks before the tragic episode. The company occupied a building near here, much smaller, less imposing. Vegeta designed this one with the profit from the selling of the other. The whole company was moving here, but the presidency was at the end, three days before, well, the fact is that Vegeta doesn't leave the black tower anymore, you know? For nothing".

"Not even to get the sun? He needs it to synthesize vitamin D."

"Vegeta says that every sun he needs enters through the window of the workroom and that if he wants more, it is just going to the terrace," sighed Goku "it's his panic syndrome, agoraphobia, you know? Well, it's somehow related to leaving home. He developed this fear, and it's no use the therapist trying to get him to overcome this barrier, so he leads the company through home-office and teleconferences. You'll probably need to learn how to knot a tie for him to get into conference with shareholders".

"Why?"

"Because that's one of the things he's never been able to do. Vegeta is so absurdly perfectionist that he won't accept to do anything sloppy done. If someone tries the tie and it gets a little bad, he can forgive. But if he tries and fails, he will keep doing and undoing it until he has a crisis of anger. Then he asks someone to do it".

"He looks kind of complicated..." Bulma said, finally contemplating the papers she would sign to make her an employee of Saiyan enterprises, while Goku laughed:

"Yes, Bulma, he is the complication in person. But I think you can handle it".

She raised her eyes to him and said:

"You seem to trust me too much."

"I am the headhunter of the company, remember? I'm good at understanding things. And I found you. Sign it, before I tell you more about him and make you quit..."

"Why am I working for the company and not for him?"

"To have all the benefits of an employee here. Health plan and everything. And discounts. The company's advantage club is worth it!" he gave a beautiful and charming smile before completing, "and you will still eat balanced meals every day made by an award-winning chef. "

"That kitchen girl?"

"Sign it, and we'll talk about it later," said Goku, already distressed. Bulma signed the papers, and he took her around the office to the exit, saying: "never call Chichi 'kitchen girl' or 'cooking girl.' She is the second proudest person I know after you know who. And she's an award-winning chef. If she's cooking just for Vegeta, it's... because she wants it that way".

"Strange..." said Bulma, "Is he in love with her or vice versa?"

Goku stopped for a moment. They were in front of the elevator. He pressed the button, looking up to the digital panel that indicated the floor where the elevator was, in silence. Then he said:

"Do you remember my 'personal strain'?"

"Yes." For some reason, she also started looking up, where Goku was looking.

"She is my personal strain." he said when the elevator arrived, "You start tomorrow. Kuririn, Vegeta's private driver, will pick you up at six and ten sharp. You get in at seven". He watched Bulma get into the elevator, his hands in the suit's pockets. Before the door closed, he still said, "Good luck!"

The door closed, and Goku breathed in relief when she left his sight. He sincerely hoped she would never give up because when he met her, he understood that Bulma was the kind of person Vegeta needed to really heal: the kind who would not be intimidated by his way. When he returned to his room, Goku still thought, "Why did I tell her about Chichi?"

***

The next day, at 6:10AM sharp, Bulma was outside his building when the company's huge and luxurious car stopped at her door. The glass came down slowly, and a smiling guy with a round face, dressed in a black suit asked:

"Are you Bulma, by any chance?"

"Yes, I am."

"Get in the back!"

Bulma liked him immediately. There was something in his spontaneous and informal way that reminded her a little of herself. They talked animatedly, and he said:

"My girlfriend also works for Mr. Vegeta. She is the night nurse".

"Oh, yeah?"

"And it's funny that she has blue hair like you."

"I wish the man wouldn't confuse us..." Bulma joked.

"Oh, no, I can't. She's taller."

Soon, Bulma was coming to the tower and saw that it was still twenty to seven. There was actually a girl with blue hair a little darker than hers, a little unpleasant, waiting next to the lady who was Vegeta's current nurse, in the antechamber of the apartment.

"Good morning!" said Bulma, nice, "I am glad to meet you..."

"Maron." said the other, with her face closed. "May I go, Mrs. Uranai?"

"Of course, dear." said the old woman, looking at Bulma with an analytical eye. The two had talked the day briefly before, but that was the day of the real training. Maron left, slamming the door without saying anything else, and Mrs. Uranai said: "What a bad mood girl... and have you, my dear, had breakfast yet?

"Actually, no." said Bulma, "Goku said..."

"Ah, he thinks of everything, that boy, come on. Then you can put on your uniform."

She took her to the dining room, where a table with 12 places where a breakfast buffet seemed to at least 10 people was served. There were fruits, slices of bread, cheeses, a cake, milk, coffee, and juice. Bulma took a glass of juice and a slice of melon and ate it. The old woman took a brioche and coffee with milk and ate to pieces, then said:

"When he arrives, greet him first, okay?"

"Okay..." said Bulma, shyly.

Suddenly, a door-sounding upstairs and the gentle rolling of wheels announced that Vegeta was coming down for breakfast. Vegeta pointed at the ramp's end, wearing a gray sweatshirt as on the first day Bulma turned him, but wearing a black shirt. The old woman said, in a very nice tone:

"Good morning, Mr. Vegeta. Did you have a good night?"

"Good morning," he said, dryly, as he turned the wheels of the chair towards the head of the table, without answering the second question. The old woman looked at Bulma, and she said:

"Good morning."

He stared at her and just nodded. Then he served himself with a small portion of eggs and black coffee. Bulma was already eating a piece of bread with butter she found divine, much superior to any she had eaten, and, seeing the controlled amount of his food, she thought, "Why do they serve so much food?

The old woman hurried her up to a room that served as a nursing room. It was a kind of suite with a sofa bed, next to which there was a communicator, a big closet that the old woman opened and said:

"You gave your measurements, didn't you?"

"Y-yes," stuttered Bulma. The old woman opened one of the closet doors where there was a sign written 'Bulma,' and several sets of simple nursing uniforms: long white pants, white shoes, and white button blouses impeccably steamed and exactly in her number. And also socks, panties and new bras, all white.

"You don't need to change your underwear," the old lady said "that's just in case you need it, in case you have a contingency. But the socks you must wear. And when you finish your shift, put everything in the basket that has your name on it, so the clothes will be washed and will come to you".

"Okay..." said Bulma, entering the bathroom, which was bigger than her apartment's. Soon she was in uniform, and the old woman said:

"First of all, I need to tell you something... always be polite and gentle with the young Vegeta. Know your place. Stay out of his business. I'll show you everything you have to do, and you'll never have any problems... if you want, I can stay with you until you feel safe".

"Let's see..." said Bulma, half hesitant. The idea of being trained by that clearly flattering old woman didn't please her much. She was a professional. "If I can understand everything today, you may not even come back tomorrow."

"But there's a lot to learn..."

"I make an effort. What do we do first?"

"Well... the young Vegeta gets two messages a day. One now in the morning and one at the end of the day. You'll realize it's quite simple, but it must be done thoroughly."

"Okay."

"Then you should exercise his legs and feet, just as you agreed. And then, you come to the nursing room and only answer the calls that he makes, besides taking medicine at times scheduled in the spreadsheet".

"What's it like? I'm gonna be locked in here all day?"

"No, you can leave the door open. But it's not desirable for you to be around too much. There are TV and computer here, you can be distracted..."

"I wasn't hired just for this, was I?"

"Darling..."

"I figured I'd help a man in need of care, but that's ridiculous!"

"Look..."

"Isn't there a way I could at least go to that beautiful terrace?"

"Well, you have the pager... but when it's triggered, young Vegeta expects you to show up immediately."

"Okay, okay..." she said impatiently. What else do I need to know?"

"Well, about your behavior."

"What about it?"

"Don't be so spontaneous."

"Why not?"

"It might bother him."

"Is there a chance of doing something that won't bother him? He only lives with robots, by any chance?"

The old woman hesitated. One person was spontaneous and apparently didn't bother Mr. Vegeta, and it was the young Goku. She sighed and said:

"I'm not sure, but it's possible."

"Then, I will find out in practice."

"But very carefully. It is good not to abuse. There are things that the young master certainly doesn't admit... neglect the uniform, distraction in the procedures, rude behavior..."

"As if he were the sweet king," said Bulma. "What else is forbidden?"

"Well... never, under any circumstances, yell at him. No matter how much he yells at you. No one yells at Mr. Vegeta."

"I don't believe I'll ever get to that point. If he yells with me, I may resign first."

"Above all, don't underestimate him just because he's in a wheelchair. An injured wolf can still bite. Never forget that. And always have a pen when he asks. The last one that lived, forgetting he sent away..."

Bulma frowned. What kind of man fires someone because the person doesn't have a pen in the pocket?

***

The two days she spent training with the old woman was the most boring of her life. The lady's pager played shortly after that first conversation, and Bulma followed her to make the massage in Vegeta. The apartment had a spa next to the pool, with a sauna and a shower. He was already sitting on a massage stretcher, with a towel around his waist, when the two arrived. Bulma wondered how he would get from his chair to the stretcher without the movement of his legs. Then she saw a sort of ladder with straps beside the stretcher, in front of which was his chair. The clothes were carelessly folded on the stretcher, beside him, and the old woman solicitously picked them up and left them on the chair.

Avoiding to look at them, Vegeta bent on his strong arms, and, with an agile movement, lay down in the center of the stretcher. The old woman helped him lie down on his back and then took off the towel, leaving him naked. She spread the special medical oil on the one hand and vigorously rubbed one of his buttocks, which remained impassive. She proceeded to his thighs, then helped him turn.

Bulma didn't have to make an effort not to look or be shaken by his naked vision. She was used to seeing handsome men in a tragic situation before, he was only one more patient for hers, but it was impressive how toned his abdomen muscles were, which was rare for a man in a wheelchair.

His legs and thighs, which should have been very muscular before, were not flaccid, but they did not have the same tone as his upper muscles because they were only exercised by the effort that was not his. The old woman held one of his legs, flexed several times, counting, and Bulma saw that, at a certain moment, he made a face of pain, which was strange to her.

Then she passed to his feet, and then, she helped him sit down and brought a second chair, made of stainless steel full of small holes. Bulma then saw, impressed, Vegeta leaning on the ladder with straps and then, sitting on the chair that the old woman held because, unlike the conventional chair, it had no brakes.

Silently, she took him under a big shower, and he opened it himself, staying under the powerful jet of eyes closed for a long minute. Then, he took a bar of soap on a glass shelf at her reach, next to the shower, and soaped the upper part of his body. Then he took the shampoo and washed his hair, all very quietly and silently.

There were two big strong parallel bars, covered with rubber, next to the shower, and he fits into them, raised his body, and washed the lower part of his body, with the same seriousness with which he had received the message. He got down from the handles, turned off the shower, and the woman extended the towel to him. First, he dried the upper part of his body. Then, he put his armpits back on the straps and finished drying himself, under the cool look of the two. He then left the towel under his body, probably not to get wet on it, and the old woman took him to her chair. Then, Bulma noticed another piece of equipment like the shower, which he used to dress the soft pants without wearing underwear. He reached out his hand to the shirt, dressed it silently, and then said the only thing that would speak during the whole process:

"You may go."

The two women went out and spent the rest of the morning confined in their room, with Bulma annoyed and bored. The old lady liked to watch all sorts of sensationalism and discussion shows, and the more lively the tent on TV was, the more she seemed satisfied. Bulma spent the day on Facebook, sent a message to Yamcha, and followed the old woman out at lunchtime, when for the first time she saw Vegeta smiling.

Chichi, the chef, was standing next to the table's head, like an efficient, rigid butler made of stone. Her chef's dolman was impeccably clean, and she wore a red apron that matched the bandana that covered her forehead, tied just above the low coke that held her black hair, still wrapped in a darknet.

He came, rolling his wheelchair as usual and asked, as soon as he reached the head of the table:

"What do we have for today, chef?

She smiled an impeccable and professional smile and said:

"The entrance is a crab salad with balsamic sauce and spices. The first course is wild rice with confit tomatoes and nut crunch. The main course is a ballotine of oxtail meat with parsnip puree and ginger".

"Let me guess? A dessert is a classic... a pavlova of red fruits or a crème brullè?"

"You've made a mistake, Your Majesty!" she said, with a clear, amusing note in her voice. "Although pavlova was a good choice for this line of service, I decided to surprise you. I made wild cherry sherbet with whipped Greek yogurt ice cream. A creation for of my new restaurant, which I will be able to inaugurate as soon as I get rid of your slavery!" she said, smiling.

"You shrewd bumpkin," he laughed, "if I don't like anything, you throw away this damn bandana?"

"You bet, my prince."

"Then you can serve."

Bulma was surprised. One minute, Chichi was in the kitchen, and the next, two serious and impeccable waiters served a salad that enchanted her at the first fork. She had never been a big fan of seafood. Still, American lettuce's texture combined with crispy little cubes of Yukon potatoes and soft and tasty crab meat, with a touch of balsamic and perfumed sauce, made her regret the ridiculous size of the portion. Soon came all the other dishes, and she wondered how someone could do something so wonderful. She understood why Goku had said that woman was a differential for the job. She really cooked divinely.

Soon, they were eating the dessert, and Vegeta called, in a spontaneous way that she only saw him using with Goku:

"Hey, shrew..."

Chichi appeared, with an obvious air of triumph.

"It wasn't this time that I pulled off that damn bandana of yours..."

She gave a cocky little smile and said:

"You haven't seen the dinner yet, Your Highness..."

He laughed and made a gesture, dismissing her. Then he turned the chair to the ramp and went up, with vigorous movements of his arms. Bulma kept looking at him, seeing the effort of his muscles during the climb. Any other man would use a motorized chair. But he seemed to want to keep what was alive in his body active and strong. Mrs. Uranai made a gesture, something that was already annoying her, for her to follow, and she said:

"Just a minute!"

Bulma ran to the kitchen, and Chichi turned, a little scared. Her assistants were already doing the dishes. The guy had a restaurant just for him and a bragging chef. Bulma held both hands of Chichi, delighted, and said:

"I wanted to thank you, you know? I've never eaten so well in my life... and I can't believe it's only the first day."

Chichi smiled, and her stiff posture softened when she said:

"Thank you so much... he doesn't get many guests, and it's not every day that someone delights in my kitchen," she whispered, "and you're the first nurse who doesn't treat me like I'm inferior just because I'm in the kitchen, you know?"

"How absurd!" Bulma was outraged. "What more tasteless people."

Chichi laughed and said:

"It's okay, no problem. I'm glad you enjoy good food."

"And I'm sorry you're not in your own restaurant... "Bulma whispered," and be forced to cook for this unfriendly guy. "

Chichi faced her as if she was seeing a recurring behavior and said:

"I'm not forced here... I have a restaurant, and a partner takes care of him, but Vegeta helped me in a moment of great need. I had known him since before... well, since before he was like this if you understand. And, although he doesn't look like it, he's a very good man. I cook for him with great pleasure. And I'm well paid for it!" she winked.

Bulma finally closed the conversation and followed Mrs. Uranai, who was already distressed because, at any moment, Vegeta would have a medication to take. Bulma sat down, resigned in her place, and thought that maybe that job would turn out to be worth it, as soon as the old woman left and she could be herself.

Even if the price of it was to take a bite from a wounded wolf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Imagine being trained by someone as tugging as this Uranai lady? Nobody deserves it, even more so having to be locked up with a fan of "family affairs."  
> 2\. Bulma obviously has her own modus operandi, and in the next chapter, she starts to live with Vegeta being herself and without the old nurse's mediation. Will Vegeta like it? We will see.   
> 3\. They always put Chichi and Vegeta having a horrendous coexistence and Vegeta talking horrible things to her. I wanted to do it differently.   
> 4\. Chichi is Goku's personal problem, as you imagined. The depth of this problem remains unclear, indeed.   
> 5\. In the next chapter, Bulma will be swimming in the aquarium with the great shark. And I guarantee that she will always have a pen in her pocket so that he doesn't complain.


	4. Swimming in the shark's fish tank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bulma finally ends her internship with Mrs. Uranai and works with Vegeta alone. She also discovers something about Chichi, wich can change her opinion about Goku.

After three days of hard training, Mrs. Uranai was satisfied and told Bulma that she could start alone the following week because it was already Friday. That was the only weekend of the month that Yamcha would not have on duty on Saturday or Sunday, and they spent the weekend together in a bathing resort, one hour from the city. They arrived very early at the small cottage that he had rented and went straight to the beach.

It was a beautiful day, gloriously sunny. The summer was already ending, but the temperature was pleasant. Bulma sat on the sun lounger that the hotel provided and stared at the sea. Yamcha asked:

"Thinking about your new job?"

"What?" she said, "No. I'm just relaxing. I'm relieved because I'm finally starting to do something, baby. That old woman treated me like an automaton, and I had to see."

"Maybe that's the discipline the patient demands," Yamcha said, "there are people who don't like people, you know..."

Bulma sighed. Yamcha was a cold doctor who didn't get too involved with his patients. He was somebody who didn't like people. He chose a specialty that made him run from more serious emergencies, and that's why, when he had the really free weekends, he preferred to escape from West City, as they were doing at that moment.

It was a weekend exactly like many they spent, except that Bulma was really a little nervous. Yamcha noticed this on Sunday afternoon when they were having lunch, and she was looking outside the restaurant, to the sea which stretched blue until she met the sky on the horizon. He asked:

"Are you okay?"

"Oh... yes." she said but went on," I'm here looking at this balcony and thinking about the patient's apartment, you know?"

"No, I don't know," he said, slightly grumpy, "and I don't know if I like you with just one patient, millionaire. It seems too 'fifty shades of gray' for my taste".

Bulma laughed and said:

"Funny, because the impression I got is that everything from him is black or white, apart from his training pants, always gray." Them, she told Yamcha about the two towers he had designed and completed "on Friday I escaped a tiny bit the old woman and went to look at the pool and the terrace ... and I got a fright. It's all closed, sealed, covered... even if the tiles are transparent. Then I realized that every apartment is sealed like an aquarium, Yanny, no window opens."

"That sounds kind of unhealthy..." he said, giving the food a bite, "the air shouldn't be renewed...

Everything is under control! I asked this, and the old woman told me they have air filters, temperature and humidity control. No matter if it is cold or hot outside, inside, we will always be at a pleasant temperature of 26ºC. It is like living in an immense aquarium for only one fish. There are white stones around the pool, a beautiful waterfall... it is a luxurious environment, but with no plant or animal around."

"My apartment also has no plants or animals," he pondered" doctors don't have time to put feed or wet green ferns..."

"You don't understand... the guy has an obsession for control! Plants and pets are not very controllable, by the way."

He held her chin in one hand and said, smiling:

"And neither do you, baby. Apparently, you won't last long in this job if this rich guy wants to control you."

She didn't say anything. But she knew Yamcha might be right.

* * *

The next day she arrived punctually at Vegeta's house and sat alone at the table for breakfast. The table full of food still bothered her too much, but she thought that maybe all that could be enjoyed later. She didn't want to believe that an untouched cake would go to waste, although the cake was never the same flavor as the day before. She heard the usual knocking of the door and the chair coming down the ramp while serving it with a croissant.

Vegeta appeared a moment later, wearing his usual gray training pants and a white shirt, and Bulma said, as soon as she saw him:

"Good morning! Did you have a good weekend?"

"Yes," he said, dryly, without looking at her.

"I'm ready to take over your treatment. I hope we have a great relationship".

He faced her, without any change in the expression and said:

"We have no reason to have a bad relationship... yet."

"I was at the beach over the weekend. It was great," said Bulma, and his reaction was like she wasn't there, but she continued: " a wonderful beach. Do you like the beach?"

He stared at her, looking bored, and said:

"You don't have to bring it up with me to say you're nice."

She looked at him. She'd had to treat people like him before, who liked to be unpleasant. She smiled and asked:

"Can I call you by your name, or am I obliged by contract to call you sir?"

He raised an eyebrow and said:

"I don't mind being called just Vegeta. But you don't have to chat with me."

"So, Vegeta... first of all, I don't pretend to be nice. That's my way anyway. Second, you don't have to dump me just to make me realize that your royal highness doesn't care about the mob and don't like to give the rabble a subject. Finally, when I take care of a patient, I like to know that I'm dealing with a person, not a machine".

He stopped with the cup on its way to his mouth and rested it on the saucer, staring Bulma in silence. Suddenly, he laughed.

"I understood why Kakarotto chose you."

She kept staring at him, waiting for an answer, but he didn't say anything. Then she said:

"I don't understand."

He stared at her and said:

"You don't have to understand. And there's one more thing. I don't mind that you talk my ears off, as long as you do your job right and it's not inconvenient. You know I never leave this apartment. I'm sure everyone who talked to you about me so far told you how mentally ill I am, and I shouldn't be contradicted... so, you already know that I don't usually go to beaches even if I left home, which I don't, the wheelchair sinks and gets stuck in the sand. Beaches are not for paralytics," he said, in a sour tone.

Bulma had finished his coffee and got up, saying:

"Okay. I'll wait for you to call me for your massage."

She climbed the ramp, in silence and Vegeta followed her with his gaze. Only then, he returned to his coffee, which ended quietly. 

Later, he waited for Bulma, as usual, for his massage. She had given him a massage together with Mrs. Uranai, so she said, before starting, while rubbing her hands with oil:

"Will I follow the same protocol as Mrs. Uranai, or would you prefer me to change something?"

"Whatever, it's embarrassing enough to need someone to rub oil on my ass every day, so I don't get roasted or bruised," he said, looking resigned.

"It's part of my job to ask the protocols. But I think, by the tone of your skin, you were well cared for. It must be really annoying to lose someone you trust..."

"She needed to retire, really. She was reliable, but she was old and very old-fashioned. And her flattering way, actually, got on my nerves."

"Oh, me too. I'm glad you said that. I'd hate to have to flatter you."

He looked over his shoulder at her, who wouldn't stop what he was doing, and he said:

"But you shouldn't force intimacy too much, and you shouldn't play the fool all time.

"Nor do I intend to. But I can't treat my patients like a piece of meat, nor do I like being treated as part of the furniture. I'm forced to stay locked up in that nursing room?"

"Why the question?"

"Because I don't like to be locked up, I'm not a prisoner. And I don't like to be alone either."

"So I finally found my opposite end. I wouldn't even leave my room for myself, and I hate people around me."

"That last part I noticed. I've never met anyone who liked to look so unpleasant."

"Are you always like that, too sincere, woman?"

"Of course. And I think that's good because since I started talking, I've heard more from you than in the three days I spent as an intern with Mrs. Old Robot".

He laughed at the comment. It wasn't easy to make Vegeta laugh, but he found it funny. She finished the massage and helped him turn around. He always seemed embarrassed when he was turned around. Not at all, she imagined. She had a certain empathy for his situation, of being forced to need help to take care of his own body.

When she started the exercise of bending his leg, she saw him making that familiar expression of pain and asked:

"What hurts, Vegeta?"

"It's not really pain... but I feel a certain discomfort above the injury. Sensitivity, I think."

"Did you talk about it with your doctor?"

He faced her, legitimately appreciating her interest. He liked professionals who were attentive to his work.

"Yes," he said, "and he said it's normal."

"Sorry to ask about that. But it's part of my job."

"I know," he sighed, "I am not the sweetest person, and everyone probably scared you about me telling you shouldn't talk to me about... my condition, saying I got crazy when I remember how I ended this way."

"True, it was warned by absolutely everyone, but I want to know your opinion. Should I talk about it or not?"

"There was a time," he said, looking at the ceiling, "when I hated what I was. What I had become. Now I simply conformed and accepted. After all, I know it could be worse. If the aneurysm had severed a few vertebrae above, I would have had to wear diapers, and that would have been humiliating."

She smiled at him and said:

"I'll do anything to make you feel good. That's what I always do for patients."

"Take good care of the Aquarium Shark... the big and fierce shark stuck in a little fish tank..."

"Wow, you know people say this about you, I mean, this "shark" nickname?"

He stared at her and got a sad smile before he said:

"The walls of my aquarium may look dark from the outside in, but they allow me to look out. Who looks inside doesn't see me as I really am".

"Don't worry, I'm not the kind of gossip or that forces any more intimate contact, Vegeta. My commitment to you is professional. You can keep your teeth sharp, Mr. Shark. I'll keep you well taken care of".

She helped him sit down, and he took her seriously and said:

"I really do. I'm sorry if I sound rude. I'm not good-natured or nice like Kakarotto... actually, I never was, I just got a little worse."

She went to the bath chair, saying: "I don't care so much about your temper, but about your well-being. As long as I'm not the reason for your bad mood..."

"Oh, no," he said, turning on the shower," there are some pretty nasty things in my life, but at least for now, you don't seem to be one of them."

She kept watching him under the shower, serious as always and thought what could be so unpleasant for him.

* * *

Finally free, she explored the house in more detail that afternoon, only where the doors were open, with the pager on his waist in case he called her, right after his bath. She was already familiar with that part, which looked like a spa, where he took a bath in the morning and, after the afternoon massage, relaxed in an adapted Jacuzzi for 25 minutes. Leaving the spa, there was the spectacular pool, which she had never seen used, and the terrace, which had a panoramic view of the city, was accessed by a ramp that went up from the pool. Exactly over the spa was the room where he did his physical therapy three times a week, usually at the end of her shift, with Tienshinhan, her friend Lunch's boyfriend.

The room, which occupied most of the floor below, had two environments decorated with excellent taste, all in black or white, as seemed to be Vegeta's obsession. There was still a mezzanine that led to the third environment, which had sound, TV, and home theater, connected to the terrace and the eight rooms, of which she only knew the one that was the nursing headquarters and his workroom.

But she chose the kitchen as her favorite place and invaded it a little unceremoniously, asking Chichi:

"Am I in the way?"

"No," smiled the chef, as she pricked vegetables beautifully in a julienne for lunch.

"What are you doing, Chichi?" she asked, curious. Chichi's two assistants each took care of a stove with professional care. Bulma stood at the door, knowing that she could get in the way and that it was not appropriate to enter that environment without a cap or a hair net. But Chichi had a nice conversation and explained:

"I'll prepare a ratatouille with eggplant, zucchini, carrot!"

"Oh, like in that little mouse movie! I loved the movie, and I always wanted to eat it!"

"This is the second course, accompanied by a gorgonzola croc monsieur!"

"Croc what?"

"That's a fancy name for a sandwich," said Chichi. Then there's a duck, which Pilaf is there, glazing, and the dessert is a zabaione, which Shun is preparing.

"Wow, Chichi... you are amazing. How did Vegeta discover you?"

She got serious and said:

"Well... actually, I've known him for a long time. I met him when I was... about 22, 23 years old. We're the same age. I soon became the chief of his favorite restaurant..."

"So young?"

"Well, the gastronomy course isn't that long; I started mine at 17 and finished at 20, at 19, I was already in that restaurant, and at 21, I was in a great moment of my career..."

"How incredible! At 21, I was still cleaning bedpans at the hospital in my internship, how sad..."

"I was working for Chef Satan, do you know him?"

"Of course, the one with the TV show!"

"That's right... when he went to TV, he passed me his restaurant; he said it was a great deal. And it seemed to be, so I didn't check the accounting properly, just went on it, you... business inexperience. Only later, I know about the priceless debt with a bank, which was left to me."

"My God... how horrible!"

"At that time, I had just met Vegeta, and he was going to the restaurant, you know? And when I said I was going to close... he saved my restaurant by buying the debts and gave me a good term and a discount on the debt; I'm grateful to him until today for that".

"How nice of him..."

"He wanted to trigger Satan, but I didn't allow it. I told him I wanted to pay his debt somehow, and I offered him a partnership, but he did not accept and helped me invest in the restaurant and make it profitable. And when it happened... what happened to him, I went to the hospital to visit him. He argued with me because I had left the restaurant to see him," she smiled, "and soon after, he stopped attending it, for reasons you already know."

"Vegeta never asked me to come to cook for him, but I just came. I sign the menu at my restaurant, it's true, but I left the work to my assistant, Mai. I made her my partner. Vegeta manages our finances, and now my son is not missing anything".

"Are you a mother?"

"Before you ask, I'm not married. I am a single mother, and I never asked anything from his father, who, by the way, is irresponsible..."

Suddenly, the words "She is my personal bid" came to Bulma's mind, and Goku no longer seemed as cool a guy as she imagined. But she didn't say anything.

* * *

After lunch, Bulma went to Vegeta to take some of his medication and met him in a teleconference with a young man, who looked a lot like him but was wearing sports clothes. Vegeta looked stressed when he said:

"You've climbed your damn seven peaks! Where did you get that crazy thing from now?"

The boy, who was visible on a huge screen that Bulma had never seen on, made a dull face before he smiled and then said:

"Who's this beauty in white?"

Vegeta looked back and, seeing Bulma, said:

"My new nurse, you maniac. Take your eye off her."

"She's your nurse, not your girlfriend, bro," the boy joked. "Are you free next week, kitten? I'll be in town..."

"I... who are you?" said Bulma, clumsily, as she delivered the glass of water and medicine to Vegeta.

"His younger brother, cooler and prettier." "said the boy," my name is Tarble, and I'm available..."

"But I'm not," said Bulma, seriously. "I have a boyfriend, sorry."

"Sorry you're off, my ridiculous brother," Vegeta said, shaking his head. This idiot spends too much time at high altitudes, and it has affected his brain. Get out of my face, Tarble," he said, getting ready to turn off "next week, we'll talk."

"Hey, I don't..."

Vegeta abruptly hung up, looking bored.

"Do you have a pen?" he asked, "for a change, mine is gone, and I need to sign some papers."

She took the pen out of her pocket and gave it to him before asking.

"Is everything okay? You seem a little upset..."

"My brother's a retard; he must be..."

"Why?" Bulma let herself stay, even though she knew she'd already finished her duty there. Vegeta sighed and said:

"That irresponsible creature never liked to work like me. When Tarble took his part in our parents' inheritance, he came with the history of mountaineering. I, the mature one, forced him to study, but he continued climbing even after he graduated".

"He's graduated in...?"

"The bum is an architect, but he never exercised. I said I wasn't going to let him spend all his inheritance on this climbing crap, so he managed to make this crap something profitable".

"Well... from what they say about you, making money must be a family vacation."

"He invested in his own line of climbing equipment, and he went after the seven peaks to promote himself, and it worked..."

"Seven peaks?"

"Yes, seven mountains. The highest of each continent, plus one in the damn Antarctic Continent!"

"You mean he climbed like... Everest?"

"Of course, and twice! Now, when I think the crazy challenges are over, and he'll settle down, he makes up that he'll climb all the summits more than eight thousand meters away! And that's fourteen! At least three of them worse than Everest! He'll end up killing himself!"

Bulma looked at Vegeta, who looked seriously annoyed and said:

"You know... I understand. I have a sister who thought about being a cop in the most violent city in the country. And I live thinking that something will happen to her... but we can't choose the life others lead, Vegeta.

He faced her, then turned the chair to the big window that leaned over the city and said, looking at the landscape:

"If at 17 someone told me: "one of you is going to end up in a wheelchair," I would say, "for sure, that crazy boy, Tarble... But he's there, doing everything he does, exposing himself to the risk of death and I, that even Kakarotto's parkour couldn't do because I thought it was madness to climb walls, am here, in this crap situation. Deep down, I'm jealous of my brother".

Bulma approached and put his hand on Vegeta's shoulder, who looked back, staring into the big blue eyes.

"You don't have to charge yourself so much, Vegeta."

He bowed his head, with no way, to look for the papers he should sign, and Bulma left, thinking that, deep down, he was just another human being.

* * *

After Vegeta's second massage, Bulma waited for him to leave the bathtub to end her workday and was leaving when she ran into Goku, arriving at the apartment.

"Hi Bulma," he said, cheerfully "how's the new routine?"

"Good," she said, coldly. Goku faced her and said:

"I just came to deliver something to Vegeta... if you wait for me, I will give you a lift."

"No, thanks," she said, with her face closed, Goku sighed.

"You found out about Chichi," he said. She did not answer. "I need to tell you that every story has two sides... and that she doesn't know as much about me as I know about her..."

Bulma stared at him in silence, and he said:

"And if you wait for my ride, I'll tell you my version."

He went up towards Vegeta's room, and Bulma hesitated for a moment, with his hand on the door handle. Then, maybe because she liked Chichi a lot and couldn't dislike Goku, she decided to hitch a ride with him and listen to his story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Before you ask, of course, the child is Gohan.  
> 2\. Bulma has already gotten involved in everything about Vegeta's condition. She hasn't been afraid, nor needs to be, but, for now, her interest is only professional.   
> 3\. Chichi has deep gratitude for Vegeta and a great sorrow towards Goku... but in the next chapter, we will know his version.   
> 4\. Tarble appears more in this story, wait.   
> 5\. In the next chapter, Bulma feels obliged to help Chichi and Goku solve their "personal bids." But it is not easy as it seems.


	5. Involvement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goku tells Bulma his story with Chichi, and Bulma gets involved and decides to help, even not knowing how.   
> Vegeta needs her help in a tough moment, and she comes to him as a helpful hand.

Goku's fingers drummed nervously on the steering wheel of the Beetle, but he didn't say anything. Bulma had accepted the ride because she wanted to know what he had to say about his history with Chichi, but they were stopped at a traffic light two blocks from her house, and he still didn't dare to say anything. So she asked:

"Is it that hard to assume that you abandoned pregnant Chichi and never learned about your child?"

"Did she tell you this?"

"No. But I inferred it."

"Did she tell you what happened when she was 23? Did she tell you how Vegeta saved her on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to Satan?"

"She did."

"- And did she say that Gohan's father doesn't know that the son exists? Because she really believes that, I guess."

Bulma thought for a moment and then said:

"She... just told me that she doesn't need the child's father for anything."

"And she's right. I know I was useless, but if I had known... everything would have been different. But she was wrong about me. I'd want to be with her and the son she still hides from me."

The light turned green, Goku started, but stopped the car in a parking space a little way ahead and drummed his fingers nervously on the steering wheel again before saying:

"I would never abandon Chichi, expressly while she was pregnant. I only discovered Gohan's existence when he was two years old... and it was I who saved Chichi's restaurant from bankruptcy, not Vegeta. I put all the money I had at the time into it... she deserved it, even more after what I did to her... how much I hurt and wounded her."

"What?"

Goku let out a long sigh. Then, with visible effort, he began to speak:

"I met Chichi in Paozu when we were both 16. I was lost and had no idea what to do, only anger. My parents were dead. My brother was in college. My grandfather could only do what he could, and not much. I didn't have the right traction to be a rebel, so I was just a lost guy who had dropped out of school and did nothing but get into fights, thinking I was the king of martial arts."

"Chichi lived near my grandfather's house with her father. There was a tournament, and she went into the fight. She was the only girl, can you believe it? I was kind of hanging around her, asking her if she wasn't bothered by fighting with the guys... and she told me something that I never forgot."

"What?"

"That she wanted the prize money and would fight for it. She didn't take it easy on anybody. She was sober all the time. I don't know if the guys took it easy on her, but I was getting too excited at the idea of fighting a girl, more than I wanted to admit... and then..."

"And then?"

" I went with her to the finals. She was trying to hit me, and I was just defending myself. I didn't want to hit that beautiful girl. It seemed like cowardice, no matter how many times I told her that I wouldn't go easy on her. I knew I was stronger than her and wanted to win that tournament, but I was in a dilemma: I couldn't get her story out of my head. She needed that money much more than I did. So I tried to hit her once, and when she dodged and surprised me, I accidentally opened my guard, and she hit me."

"Did she beat you?

"

"She imagined I let her win and told it to me immediately after the awards ceremony, angrily. She was wrong: I slipped, lost my balance from the surprise, and fell outside, so she won fairly. I had already won other tournaments, so for me, it was no drama. Afterward, I went to her, wanting to know what the prize was for. She told me that it would help her to go to college."

"She was my age and already had her whole life planned: she was going to study gastronomy, which, after all, only lasts three years, she would start working in any restaurant while studying because she already cooked very well... it may sound funny, but when I met her, I started to think I was a moron, walking up and down saying how life was unfair for me."

Bulma laughed, and he continued:

"Dating was out of Chichi's plans, but between her and me, there seemed to be magnetism, irresistible chemistry: we couldn't resist, when we saw each other, we had to stay together. She planned absolutely everything, and I planned nothing, but I knew I wanted to be with her, to be like her more than anything I had ever wanted in my life."

"We were in the middle of the summer vacation. We were 17 years old when I decided to go back and finish school. After all, I only had one year left, and I was going to try to go to college too. I enlisted in school and applied to several colleges, to a lot of different things, to everything that I thought was good. When that vacation was almost over, one starry night, in the back of my grandfather Gohan's old pickup truck..."

"Is that when she got pregnant?" asked Bulma, distressed.

"No, it wasn't... it was our first time, and since she was going to the city and I was staying, well... we made it special and took all the care in the world. It was a night full of promise, unforgettable. And then we parted for the first time, thinking that soon we would see each other again. But it didn't happen like that. I finished school and went to college abroad, and I missed Chichi the following year. She was already busy and didn't go to Paozu for a vacation that year. "

"Officially, we were not a couple anymore. Chichi wanted it that way. She went to West City, and I was simply 5,000 kilometers away from her, with a minimal budget, living on scholarship, then I got interested in programming games for smartphones. I created the Dragon Balls game and presented it at an internship fair. The guys at the startup I told you before went crazy, and it seemed like a good idea to make money with it, without the slightest pretension. I just said I wanted creative freedom if the game did well. And the game became a fever, and suddenly I was a guy who was worth a lot to them, they increased my contract, and suddenly I had a fortune in my bank account. But I was still in the middle of college, one year before I graduated."

"But I got excited with all that money in the bank, and I planned a vacation trip. The logical thing would be to go to Paozu, where my grandfather was, or to Satan City, where my brother moved. I stayed 2 years away from home. But Chichi was here, and I was desperate to see her. We were exchanging e-mails as friends all that time, but she made it very clear that her focus was finishing college. She was already working, with her career ahead."

"I arrived as a 'friend'... but I made an effort to impress Chichi. I made a lot of money with the dragon balls game, and then. I rented a great car, stayed in a luxury hotel, and did everything to seduce her. And I think I had the best summer of my life. I convinced Chichi to leave the restaurant for ten days. She had never taken a vacation and was a recent graduate and employed for a year. Have you ever heard of chains of events that if only one thing didn't happen, disaster would be averted?"

"No."

"It is like the Titanic sinking: a big event that would not happen if just one of the small events that caused it, just one of them, did not occur. If the pilot didn't speed up if the guy on the lookout didn't forget his binoculars," said Goku. "I was very much in love with Chichi, delighted with my money, very full of myself for my success, and we lost our minds for each other in those ten days, and in the end, I didn't want to leave, but I had to go because I wanted to finish college. And then I made a big mess in my life."

"What mess?" Bulma stared at him, a little stunned.

"I asked Chichi to marry me and told her that she had to go with me. I didn't care if she had a job, if she was where she wanted to be. I just wanted to take her with me, arrogant, selfish. But she told me that was crazy and sent me away. She broke up with me, said that we had to use our heads, and had no idea what marriage was, told me I was irresponsible. And she was right, but I got angry and said that was the last time she would send me away. If I had been more mature... if I had understood..."

"And you left? "

"I was supposed to go... but the day before I left, I got drunk. One of those binges that make you useless. I lost my plane and my bearings. I decided to stay and rented an apartment here, got in touch with the startup, which was based here, and started making apps one after the other. I wanted to make money to prove to her I could be successful. And then, now you know my part of the story."

"But... what about your son?"

Goku let out a deep sigh.

"If I had known... if I had found out... everything would be different. I stayed here avoiding everything that could make me meet Chichi. In my childish mind, I would find her just when I was rich and successful. She hurt me, and I wanted to prove that I could have a career, too, even without college. I enrolled in a sham ODL course to get the diploma and paid others to take the exams. In the end, I wanted it too."

"Meanwhile, she found herself pregnant, alone... and tried to find me. The college e-mail was no longer useful. I had given up the course, it was told to her. I discarded my old phone numbers when I moved here, so she could not find me easily. It is easy to avoid a person in a big city if you really want, and I avoided her with all my soul. She then searched, in her desperation, for the only person she knew that I knew, even though she knew our friendship was over, because I, after all, had always talked a lot about him."

"Vegeta?"

"That's him. He decided to help Chichi and called my grandpa in Paozu to discover where I was and found I was here. Vegeta took my address and phone number and gave them to her. And when she called me, before she could say anything about her pregnancy to me..." Goku leaned his head on the steering wheel. It was obvious that he deeply regretted something.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't even want to listen to what she had to say. I said I never wanted to see her again. That she was probably looking for me because her plan had gone wrong and she needed a guy with money now, to support her dreams... but that I was no longer available to be around when she had nothing better to do. She said, 'Okay, then, we have nothing to talk' Then, instead of telling me about the pregnancy... she decided to have the child alone."

"Vegeta soon afterward sought her out and asked her how it had been. And she did. "

"And then?"

"Vegeta helped her. He helped her to pay for her prenatal treatment and was there when my son was born. Then, he helped her to get a place in a good daycare center, helping her financially in a discreet way to avoid rumors of being the child's father. He did that for me. At the same time, he started to watch me and saw me losing my way more and more."

"And that's when he came to you?"

"Yes. Two years had passed since I had last seen Chichi. He told her what happened, and she said she was happy for him about our friendship but told him she never wanted to see me again. At first, he didn't tell me anything, but when I saw that he used to go to Chichi's restaurant. I was shameful. I asked if he was interested in her, and he told me that I was ridiculous. He had a girlfriend, a beautiful woman, a model, he said he was a friend of Chichi's, and I didn't understand where such friendship came from. He told me he knew her before we met again, and he never told me because of what I told him about her. I believed him, but then, the problem with her restaurant happened, and when I heard about it from him, I sneered. I said it was well done for her."

Still, with his face resting on the steering wheel, Goku closed his eyes and said:

"That was the second time Vegeta punched me in my life, and he was right. I was about to react when he yelled and said that she had had a child...and that I was the father. Suddenly I realized why she had called me that time and why she had sacrificed so much to buy a part of the restaurant. Why she had worked herself to death."

"And what did you do?"

"I used all the money I earned from the startup to save her restaurant. I became a simple employee of Sayajin Enterprises and stopped being a rich idiot to save my son and the woman I never stopped loving. I did this through a contract with Vegeta's investment company. He said that I should tell her, but I was dying of shame and knew if she were told I was paying her debts, she would be mad with Vegeta and refuse my help. I told you she is the proudest person in the world, except, of course, that man you use to work," a faint smile appeared on Goku's face.

"After, with the loans paid, I took over all of our son's expenses, without her knowing. She believed he gained a scholarship in an excellent school, but I pay the annuity secretly. At that time, she was already working for Vegeta and believed the health insurance was a benefit of the contract with Vegeta. I pay all the expenses I can for Gohan" his smile widened "she named him the name I said I wanted for a son. My grandfather's name.

After all, I think she doesn't hate me..."

"So... she doesn't know anything? And you never met your own son?"

"No. We met face to face in the hospital when the misfortune with Vegeta happened. She was cold, so was I, but I don't blame her because I was a shit to her. And we've been like that ever since. Very polite, very distant. Once she accidentally talked about Gohan without saying his name and quickly told me he was the son of a dead boyfriend and said nothing. I pretended I believed her." he took his face off the steering wheel and looked at Bulma. "But the fact is that I never got over it. I want to, but I can't. At the same time, I want to get closer, but that would involve so much to face the fear I have that all of this is closing, that the separation is forever. The way we are, I still can see her and know my son is growing well... But the truth is, Bulma, I don't know what to do."

Bulma stared at him. She couldn't really dislike Goku, but she had to say it:

"Stop being a coward and tell her everything. Tell her what you did for her. Ask for forgiveness. You saved her, and you hide all this out of fear? There's no way she won't forgive you when she knows everything. 

He shook his head and said:

"No. I don't think there's any way. She will never forgive me. "

Bulma sighed. If he thought so, there was nothing she could do about it herself.

* * *

Days passed, and Bulma got used to her work and Vegeta's routine. It became a habit to talk with Chichi before lunch and with Vegeta right after dessert, when she took him his medicine in the afternoon.

Chichi was proud of her little Gohan, totally devoted to him, and never talk about any love interest or anything like that. All the love of her heart seemed to have been transferred to the boy. More than once, Bulma felt bad for knowing so much about her friend's life and not having the courage to tell her that, in fact, Goku was not the monster she imagined and that she wanted to participate in her son's life."

Bulma ended up talking about it with Vegeta, who would just say:

"I admire Chichi much more than Kakarotto. All that asshole does is whine because he didn't know that she had a son. But he has known the truth for seven years. Seven fucking years! He hasn't taken the courage all this time to approach his own so. I doubt that both of them have gotten over their feelings for each other. And he never let me tell her everything he's done, and it's a source of pride, not shame.

It is also awful to see she is so grateful to me, who did anything but hide Kakarotto behind me."

"Vegeta." Bulma looked at him with a half pidgin face and said: "what if the two of us helped the two of them to talk, somehow. "

He stared at her, kind of annoyed, and said:

"Forget it, woman. I'm not good enough to play the matchmaking aunt. He gets tired of coming here and being face to face with her. If he hasn't taken the initiative yet, it's because he's an asshole. "

"But it was you who told him that he had a child with her."

"Because I wanted him to do something about it! But he doesn't do anything. And he still doesn't. His son is growing up, and there's no point in him later trying to make up for the lost time!"

Bulma regretted having brought up the subject and decided that at some point, she was going to help Goku to do something about Chichi. She always got easily involved in the dilemmas of the people she cared about, and so one day, she asked Chichi directly:

"Don't you have a boyfriend, Chichi?" Bulma always told Chichi about Yamcha, but the other always kept a discreet silence.

"What's the point?" said Chichi, frowning " I don't need a man to boss me around or my career or to get into conflict with my son. No, thanks ... I'm quite happy on my own."

"Gee, Chi, it's not possible that no one has ever come along. You're gorgeous!"

"Yes, they do... but I'm not interested in that. The only time I've ever been in love was with a scumbag...sometimes I go out with one guy or another...and I never get involved. I just can't. "

" So, I guess you never got over the father of your son..."

"Of course I did." She looked with an angry expression to Bulma. "My life is complete and great the way it is. You don't need to worry about it!"

Bulma sighed. It would be hard, harder than she had imagined at first.

* * *

That same day, a Thursday, Vegeta asked her for help tying a tie. She almost laughed when she saw him in his dress shirt, jacket, and wearing the same old beat-up sweatpants.

"What elegance!"

"I'm not going to put on a pair of dress pants or shoes to be seen only from the waist up?" he said grumpily. "Do you have a pen? Mine keep disappearing!" he asked, looking through the papers on the table.

"Here," she said, handing him the pen she had in the pocket of her uniform. It was an old habit. "Who is the conference with?"

"First with the majority shareholders, half-yearly report. Then with my lawyer, Raditz. It's about a lawsuit we are filing against a former business partner. "

"Raditz is Goku's brother?"

"That's him. You will like him. Women always do. It was hell to hang around with him when we were younger. "

"I already told you I have a boyfriend, Vegeta."

"I know. That never stopped women from turning their heads when Raditz walked by. "

"Was he that handsome?"

"I don't know. I think it was the big hair. Now with some money, the guy is, what woman say... the perfect date."

"Goku told me that you were dating a beautiful woman once. You could come back to Dating."

Vegeta's mouth twitched, and Bulma regretted the comment as soon as she made it, but he didn't avoid the subject, on the contrary:

"It was kind of obvious to my former girlfriend that it was impossible to exchange a millionaire playboy who was guaranteed to make social column headlines for a paralytic... maybe I wouldn't be so glamorous after I became... this guy here — the cripple."

Bulma finished fixing his tie and said, looking at the tie and not at him, not knowing exactly why:

"You should stop defining yourself so negatively. Despite not leaving home, you are still feared in the business world," Bulma joked, "Goku told me that you are still a business shark," she stood up and added, "even though you are swimming in an aquarium."

Vegeta looked at her and smiled. Suddenly he thought he was getting along with her too quickly. She made it clear that it was only a professional relationship, so it was better not to stare at her too much, not to be too enchanted by those blue eyes.

Bulma was leaving the room when he said:

"Stay close by. Sometimes after this kind of lecture, on such thorny subjects, I don't feel very well. "

"Okay!" said Bulma, going to the nursing room.

She would never know what made her leave the room an hour or so later. Maybe it had been some kind of intuition. But she left the nursing room, finding something strange as if there was a noise somewhere that she could almost hear. She approached the door of the room and heard Vegeta yelling at someone:

"Fix it, Raditz! I'm not going!"

"If you don't attend, Vegeta, the judge will interpret it as disinterest."

"Send Kakarotto, get a medical report from Whis, from Kamisama, from Piccolo. About twenty doctors examine me and know my condition, and get a report from anyone, Raditz. I don't want to go to court!"

"You have to go! You've been summoned. We'll lose this case by default if we're right, Vegeta. Take your doctor, your therapist, but GO!"

"I AM NOT GOING!"

Bulma was sure that, after this sentence, Vegeta turned off the conference. She stood in suspense, trying to listen for any sign that indicated that he was okay. Suddenly, she heard a deafening thud and thought Vegeta had somehow fallen out of his wheelchair.

Bulma abruptly opened the door and saw Vegeta lying face down on the carpeted floor, trying in agony to turn over, while at the same time trying to remove his tie. She took two quick steps into the room, and he lifted his face, an expression of agony stamped on it, as he leaned with his right hand on the carpet while his left hand was still fiddling with his tie in a distressed manner.

"Help me..." - he pleaded in a hushed voice, and she didn't hesitate: sitting down on the floor in front of him, she pulled him by the armpits and turned him around to face her, feeling him tremble as she pulled on his tie and drew him closer to her.

Before she could straighten him out, he hugged her like a drowning man, and she felt his cold sweat on her hands and on her chest, where he dipped his face with his eyes closed, his trembling hands clutching at her back, which she couldn't move because of his weight, which could only move from the hips up.

She felt his hands crisp against her back and said as she returned the embrace with her touch, which she intended to be calm and safe:

" I'm here, Vegeta. I am here. "

"Help me, please!" he repeated, and she answered:

"Whatever you need me for. I'm here for that."

She let herself stay in that embrace, knowing it was the only thing she could do, as she felt him tremble. For the first time, she realized he might seem like a man who took his condition well, who accepted himself and was not bothered... but deep down, he had his emotions and soul even more broken and shattered than his marrow or any other part of his physical body. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I know, I know. That scene of Vegeta grabbing Bulma in the middle of a panic attack is tremendously agonizing. Although I have never been affected by this condition, I once found myself in the situation of helping a person in a panic attack, and the experience scarred me greatly.   
> 2\. Goku and Chichi in this fanfic are supporting players, but their conflict resolution is important to Bulma's plot with Vegeta. Keep an eye on them.   
> 3\. Vegeta's disorder, agoraphobia, is characterized by the panic of open places. Vegeta won't leave his apartment for a fairly serious reason, which we'll find out soon enough.


End file.
